NBA: Rajon Rondo's mentality makes him a polarizing figure

To start a heated argument in a sports bar, all you have to do is say two words: "Rajon Rondo."

Half the room might defend him, but the other half might call him a punk. Rondo could be the most polarizing All-Star athlete in Boston sports history.

After returning from knee surgery, Rondo has shown that he remains one of the NBA's best point guard and a unique one. But he's also one of the most difficult to figure out. Rondo has spent much of his life proving his critics wrong, but his "me against the world" mentality has presented challenges to referees, coaches and media.

When Rondo celebrated his birthday with family and friends in L.A. last weekend rather than accompany the team to Sacramento for a game that night apparently without permission, his critics, who were already fed up with his suspensions and immaturity, lashed out. How could the captain abandon his team during a losing streak and show up his rookie coach even though he wasn't going to play on the second night of a back-to-back?

Sports talk shows shredded him. Rondo admitted he heard about the criticism, but he did nothing to end it when he failed to explain himself last week.

CSNNE repeatedly showed the video of me asking Rondo after Wednesday's game what he thought of the commotion he caused by not going to Sacramento.

"Nobody knows the story," he replied. "So you guys keep making up every story you guys possibly can."

Rest assured that I did not make anything up. When I asked him what the story was, Rondo replied, "It's my business, it's my choice."

That certainly cleared everything up, didn't it?

Rondo does everything on his terms, including keeping the media waiting for more than an hour at times before he speaks after games. His predecessor as captain, Paul Pierce, used to be one of the first Celtics to make himself available to the media after games. Celtics fans don't care about that, but they do seem to care that Rondo didn't go to Sacramento. If any Celtic other than Rondo hadn't gone, fans probably wouldn't have batted an eye, but they were already siding against the Celtics' captain.

Rondo rubs some people the wrong way because he believes he's the smartest person in the room and he lets everyone know it. He probably is the smartest. After returning from knee surgery that sidelined him for 11 months, he did whatever he could to learn the offense that Stevens, a rookie NBA coach, had implemented.

When the Celtics ran through a dummy offense in practice, Rondo took turns playing point guard, shooting guard, small forward and power forward to learn those positions better.

"So in the game," rookie guard Phil Pressey said, "he can tell guys where they should be. I never looked at it that way and I'm pretty sure that's one of the main reasons why he is who he is."

"I've been in Doc's system my whole career so I didn't have to do that," Rondo said of Stevens' predecessor, Doc Rivers. "It kind of just came through repetition over time, but being in Brad's system this is the first year getting his plays down so I want to know where everybody will be on the floor, every shot guys will take, what they're looking for in certain spots so I tried out every position."

Plenty of NBA point guards can score and pass, but how many know how to run an offense? Rondo believes he's one of the very few.

"A lot of point guards nowadays can't really run a team," he said. "They just let the coach call all the plays and play off of talent."

Some coaches may find nothing wrong with that, but Rondo does.

"If some coaches got thrown out of the game," Rondo said, "a lot of point guards wouldn't be able to manage the game and run the game, get certain guys the ball, call the right plays at certain times in the game. I think that's what the game is lacking. There's only a handful of guys who can call the game without the coach on the sideline."

That's what makes Rondo so polarizing. He is smart. But for someone so smart, he doesn't always do the smart thing and he doesn't seem to care what people think of him. He's 28 now and in his eighth NBA season. He's probably not going to change.

Olynyk a work in progress

Kelly Olynyk has had his shining moments, but overall the Celtics rookie remains a work in progress.

"It's been up and down," Olynyk admitted.

So he fits right in with most of the NBA's class of 2013. Only three rookies, Philadelphia guard Michael Carter-Williams, Orlando guard Victor Oladipo and Utah guard Trey Burke, are averaging in double figures in scoring. Olynyk is averaging just 7.1 points and shooting only 42.6 percent, but it's far too early to label the 7-footer from Gonzaga a disappointment.

Fans should wait another year or two to make up their minds on Olynyk. On draft night, Ainge tried to temper expectations by saying Olynyk had the potential to become a good complementary player, not a superstar.

The 22-year-old Canadian is already better than Fab Melo, whom the Celtics drafted with the 22nd pick in 2012 and is no longer in the NBA, and you could argue that Olynyk's rookie season compares favorably with that of Jared Sullinger, who was drafted 21st by the Celtics in 2012. Sullinger averaged 6 points and 5.9 rebounds and shot 49.3 percent in 45 games before undergoing season-ending back surgery. Celtics fans would be thrilled if Olynyk improved as much next season as Sullinger has this year.

Olynyk ranks second among NBA rookies in rebounding (4.8) and he's tied for first in offensive rebounds (1.9). He's tied for sixth in scoring (7.1) even though he's only 12th in minutes (18.9), but he's first in fouls (3.1). Sullinger averaged 3.4 fouls as a rookie and fouled out of eight games. Olynyk has fouled out only once.

"He's getting better," Stevens said. "That's the best part. Defensively, that's the challenge right now, just getting up to speed, not only for a new system, which he's gotten better at, but then also just the physicality of it all."

Olynyk had one of his best games Monday at Utah, sinking 8 of 13 shots and finishing with 21 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in only 28 minutes. He was a plus-4 in a 12-point loss. Unfortunately, Olynyk sprained the big toe on his left foot against the Kings and aggravated the injury against Utah even though he taped his toe. He hasn't played since and will wear a protective boot until the swelling subsides. He's not sure how he injured his toe. All he knows is it hurts. So how did he score 21 points with a sore toe?

"I was just running on the outside of my foot," he said.

In his last eight games, Olynyk has averaged 10.2 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 44.9 percent. He has shown progress offensively. Defense remains an uphill battle because of his lack of foot speed and quickness.

Gerald Wallace is known for his defense and he believes the Celtics can help out Olynyk by playing tough team defense.

"Everybody has to know his weak points on defense," Wallace said, "and we have to pick up for that. Defense isn't a one-person thing. It takes five guys to play great team defense. Everybody has to adjust to that situation of him being a kind of not mobile defender as far as guarding the ball, but he's pretty good at keeping guys in front of him. We've just got to pick up for him."

At 22, Olynyk is older than a lot of rookies who turn pro after one or two years in college, but he's not much more experienced. He didn't play much his first two years at Gonzaga before red-shirting a year. Olynyk enjoyed a breakout season last year, averaging 17.8 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting an incredible 62.9 percent. Dallas drafted him 13th last June, then dealt him to Boston for the draft rights to Lucas Nogueira and two future second-round picks.

Olynyk attempted only 27 3-pointers last year and sank just nine of them, but Stevens wants him to develop that part of his game. Olynyk is shooting only 29.4 percent (20 of 68) from threeland, but Stevens believes he'll improve.

"In my opinion," Stevens said, "he's got to be a good shooter and a guy you can play through on offense because he's not a back-to-the-basket guy. Now can he score with his back to the basket? Yes. Can he do it against Roy Hibbert? He probably has a ways to go. What he can do is stretch the floor, shoot the ball or make that guy come out to him, drive by (him) and make a pass."

"That's a huge weapon at this level," Olynyk said of the 3-point shot. "You don't have many big guys who can stretch the floor. I always could shoot it. I didn't shoot at lot of them (in college). Part of it was the offense, part of it was we were scoring easier in other ways so we didn't have to settle for those."

Stevens said he's trying to figure out how to utilize Olynyk's strengths now and round out his game in the future.

"Maybe by the time he gets used to this," Stevens said, "and gets his experience built up, you've got a heckuva player."

Olynyk missed 10 games after spraining an ankle in late November and struggled to regain his rhythm after returning to the lineup.

"There's been some positives," he said, "some learning curves, some experiences that have been really good and I think as long as you're in there, if you work hard every day trying to get better you're on the right path."

Contact Bill Doyle at wdoyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.